President Muhammadu Buhari has approved the deployment of a former Minister of State for Defence, Demola Seriki, to Spain as Nigerian Ambassador, while a former Minister of Mines and Steel, Sarafa Ishola, will serve as High Commissioner to the United Kingdom. Ishola is from Ogun State.

Also, former Editor-in-Chief of The Guardian, Debo Adesina, will serve as Ambassador to Togo.

The postings are included in a list sighted by our correspondent on Sunday.

11 ambassadors were re-appointed, eight retained in their current countries of posting, while three others were redeployed.

Current Nigerian Ambassador to Ireland, Uzoma Emenike, a career diplomat, was posted to the United States as the ambassador, while M.I. Bashir will serve as deputy ambassador.

In all, there are 52 non-career envoys posted out by the President and 43 career ambassadors based on the confirmed list from the Senate.

According to the list, the eight ambassadors that will remain at their duty posts include:  Mohammed Rimi (United Arab Emirates), Jidda Baba (China), Gani Bura (Lebanon), Yusuf Tuggar (Germany), Baba Madugu (Switzerland) and Deborah Illiya (Congo).

Tijani Muhammmad-Bande will also retain his position as the Permanent Representative to the United Nations, New York while Adeyinka Asekun will remain the High Commissioner to Canada.

However, Modupe Irele, who is the current Ambassador to France, will be redeployed to Hungary while Eniola Ajayi, the Ambassador to Hungary is expected to be redeployed to the Netherlands.

For non-career diplomats, Ijeoma Chineyerem will resume as Ambassador to Ireland, Oma Djebah will be posted to Thailand, Abdulahi Shehu (Russia), Haruna Manta (South Africa), Kayode Laro (France), Paul Adikwu (The Vatican), Abubakar Moriki (Japan), Opunimi Akinkugbe (Greece) and Ali Magashi (South Korea).

Other postings include M.O. Abam (Italy), N.A. Kolo (Israel), A. Sule (India), G.Y. Hamza (Ghana), A.N. Madubike (Australia) and O.C Onowu (Belgium).

The remaining appointees will serve as deputy ambassadors or heads of mission. They include A.E. Alleboy (Deputy Ambassador to France), G.E. Edokpa (Deputy Permanent Representative to The UN), Ben Okoyen (Cuba), G.M. Okeke (Deputy Head of Mission to Switzerland),  S.Sani to London, (Deputy High Commissioner to UK), I.A Iwejuo (Ethiopia as Deputy Ambassador), I.A. Alatishe (Deputy Ambassador to Russia) and I.R. Ocheni (Germany).

Punch